Medieval Medical Recipes : Book of Hours

Medieval Medical Recipes

Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, MS McClean 89 (hereafter MS McClean 89) is a Book of Hours made in Flanders in the late 15th century for the English market. The manuscript was in England by 1515 at the latest, since several generations of the Skipwith family of South Ormsby in Lincolnshire added birth records to the calendar (ff. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(65);return false;'>27r-32v</a>) and to some of the endleaves (ff. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(267);return false;'>128r-129v</a>). The Skipwith family were minor gentry, and several members of the family were involved in local and national politics and also married into socially powerful families. The birth records in MS McClean 89 are worth close examination, not only as a primary source of new biographical information about several socially and politically important figures in England in the 16th and 17th centuries, but also because the records allow us to trace the transfer of the volume from one generation to another through four generations of the Skipwith family. In addition, the birth records are especially important as a way to highlight the family of Lyon (also known as Leo, Lionel) Skipwith, eldest son of the marriage between Sir William Skipwith and Alice Dymoke, whose children seem to have been erroneously attributed to his younger brother Henry Skipwith in many accounts of the family history (more information below).The first member of the Skipwith family to use MS McClean 89 was Sir William Skipwith (b. ?1488, d. 1547), High Sheriff of Lincolnshire 1526-1527, MP for Lincolnshire in 1529 and 1539 (see <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/skipwith-william-1487-1547'>History of Parliament entry</a> for further details), and son of Sir John Skipwith (d. ?1518), High Sheriff of Lincolnshire 1493 and Katherine Skipwith (née Fitzwilliam). Sir William was married twice, first to Elizabeth Tyrwhitt, by whom he had one son, also named William (born c. 1510) (for whom also see <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/skipwith-sir-william-1510-86'>History of Parliament entry</a>) before Elizabeth's death in or before the year 1514. Sir William then married Alice Dymoke, daughter of Sir Lionel Dymoke; the date is not recorded, but the marriage probably took place in or before mid-1514, since William recorded the births of his children with Alice Dymoke in MS McClean 89, beginning with Marie (Mary), who was born 15 March 1515. Records by a number of hands record the births of a further twelve of his children in the manuscript's calendar pages, summarised as follows in chronological order (for full transcriptions and interpretations, see Additions): <ul><li>Marie (Mary), born 15 March 1515</li><li>Jane, born 26 October 1516</li><li>Lyon (also known as Leo and Lionel), born 3 December 1517</li><li>Anna, born 30 March 1518</li><li>John and Margaret, born 11 June 1519</li><li>Brigida (Bridget), born 2 February 1521</li><li>Katryn (Katheryn, Katherine), born 6 December 1523</li><li>Elisabeth (Elizabeth), born 20 January 1524</li><li>George, born 12 December 1526</li><li>Dorothea, born 6 February 1527</li><li>George, born 30 November 1529</li><li>Henry, born 1 September 1532</li></ul>There are a number of unresolved complexities in this list of births. In three instances, it appears that births occur too close together for Alice Dymoke to be the mother of both children: Lyon on 3 December 1517 and Anna on 30 March 1518; Katryn on 6 December 1523 and Elisabeth on 20 January 1524; and George on 12 December 1526 and Dorothea on 6 February 1527. The manner in which the dates are recorded in the manuscript varies: by regnal years, calendar years, or some combination thereof. There were also at this time differing practices in reckoning the start of the year: the calendar/Christian year began on 1 January, but the legal year on 25 March. The impossibly short gap between the births of Katryn and Elisabeth, and between George and Dorothea, might be explained by confusion arising from these different systems, if Katryn were born on 6 December 1522 not 1523, and if George were born on 6 February 1528, not 1527. However, no such resolution is possible for Lyon and Anna, since their birth dates are too closely pre- and post-dated by their siblings Jane and twins John and Margaret. One possibility is that some of these children were born out of wedlock to another mother, though the naming of Lyon (presumably in honour of his maternal grandfather) and the descent of the manuscript to him suggests that he was legitimate (further details below). A further question hangs over the two children named George; perhaps the first died in infancy. Further research is needed to place all of these observations on firmer evidential ground. It is notable that the birth of Sir William's first child (William, b. ?1510), by his first wife Elizabeth, is not recorded here. Furthermore, the book passed not to this William, but to the oldest son, Lyon (b. 1517), of Sir William's second marriage to Alice. This suggests the possibility that MS McClean 89 came into the Skipwith family via Alice herself, and who wished it to remain in her side of the family. Lyon was married twice, first to Margaret Barnardiston, daughter of John Barnardiston, and second to Jane Bracebridge, daughter of William Bracebridge. The births of seven of his children were recorded in MS McClean 89, all in the same hand, which might indicate that Lyon added the entries himself. The children of Lyon Skipwith as recorded in MS McClean 89 are as follows: <ul><li>Katheryne (Katherine), born 10 July 1555</li><li>Margaret, born 8 March 1561 (or 1562)</li><li>Elizabeth, born 15 February 1562</li><li>Ursula, born 30 May 1563</li><li>William, born 12 September 1566</li><li>George, born 4 November 1567</li><li>John, born 9 March 1573</li></ul>Lyon Skipwith has not left a substantial trace in the historical record, and as a result some sources appear to conflate details of his life with those of his youngest brother, Henry (b. 1 September 1532). For instance, in Burke's Peerage, Knightage and Baronetage ((2003), III.3641), Henry is said to have had twelve children (William, Francis, Henry, George, Ursula, Catherine, Anne, Jane, Bridget, Dorothy, Elizabeth, Margaret), but the records added to MS McClean 89 indicate that some of these are Lyon's children. Further suggestive evidence is provided by the descent of the manuscript, which passed to William (b. 1566), since it is more likely that he inherited it as Lyon's son, rather than as his nephew. William Skipwith (b. 1566, d. 1610) was Sheriff of Leicestershire c. 1598, and MP for Leicestershire in 1601 and for Leicester in 1604 (see <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/skipwith-sir-william-1564-1610'>History of Parliament entry</a>). He was knighted in 1603 and was married twice, first to Margaret Cave and second to Jane Roberts, the daughter of John Roberts of Wollaston. Like his antecedents, he recorded the births of six children on ff. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(267);return false;'>128r-128v</a>, as follows: <ul><li>Jane, born 3 November 1587</li><li>Anne, born 23 January 1588</li><li>Henry, born 21 March 1590</li><li>George, born 12 February 1591</li><li>Elizabeth, born 11 February 1592</li><li>Thomas, born 6 August 1594</li></ul>MS McClean 89 passed to William's eldest male child, Henry Skipwith (b. 1590). Henry was knighted in 1609 and was married twice, first to Anne Kempe, daughter of Sir Thomas Kempe and second to Blandina Pennen, daughter of John Pennen of Badgeworth, Somerset. He too recorded the births of seven children on ff. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(269);return false;'>129r-129v</a>, as follows: <ul><li>William, born 25 February 1613</li><li>Henry, born 16 December 1615</li><li>Elizabeth, born 6 October 1617</li><li>Thomas, born 30 March 1618</li><li>Diana, born 27 May 1621</li><li>Graye, born 23 January 1622</li><li>Anne, born 23 February 1623</li></ul>There are no further Skipwith births recorded in MS McClean 89 after this last entry, and the subsequent ownership of the manuscript is unknown.As well as the natal records, the manuscript also includes a recipe for a 'Soverign water' also known as 'Dr Stephen's water' on ff. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(272);return false;'>130v-132v</a>, a panacea medicine supposedly created by a 'Physician Steven' as he is so named in MS McClean 89. The recipe for a 'Soverign water' was said to cure eye problems, most common ailments and was said to extend life, and was a popular recipe in 16th- and 17th-century England; versions of the recipe are found in several other manuscripts and printed books, sometimes with additional information about 'Steven', who apparently lived into his 90s thanks to the powers of his concoction. His identity is otherwise unknown, and the version of the recipe in MS McClean 89 lacks some of the purported biographical information found in other sources. Dr Sarah Gilbert Project Cataloguer for the Curious Cures Project Cambridge University Library